Follow us

:( Oops! Something went wrong...

Blog

blog

Media

media

Events

events

Scholars

publications / reports / 1990

The Report of The Hansard Society Commission on Women at the Top

Share this

The 1990 report of the Hansard Society Commission on Women at the Top identified continuing barriers to women achieving senior positions across a range of fields in the public and private sectors, and made far-reaching recommendations for further action.

Download the full report

The Hansard Society Commission on Women at the Top was established in 1988, with Lady Howe in the Chair and a mandate to “identify barriers to the appointment of women to senior occupational positions, and to other positions of power and influence, and to make recommendations as to how these barriers could be overcome.” The Commission focused on the circumstances of women in senior positions since it was thought that change at the top, provided it extended beyond tokenism, would help all women.

The other members of the Commission included leading female and male representatives from business and industry, financial services, the civil service, politics, universities and journalism.

The Commission examined women’s representation across Parliament, public office, the civil service, the legal profession including the judiciary, management, higher education, the media and trade unions.

The Commission’s work included:

A review of published information about women in public life and employment;

Interviews with senior personnel in government, business and the professions;

Interviews with experts in organisations committed to increasing equality of opportunity, including the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Women into Public Life Campaign and the 300 Group;

Contact with companies known for good practice in the employment of women;

A survey of employers on their policies and practices towards the promotion of women to senior positions; and

A survey of companies on the composition of their main holding and subsidiary boards.

The Commission found that there were still formidable barriers stopping women getting to the top: of structures, of working practices, of tradition, and, above all, of attitude.

However, in its final report, published in 1990, the Commission also identified “strong evidence of what organisations can do to break down all of these barriers” and said that it would “take only a small amount of determination to make sure this country ceases to under-use nearly half of its talent.”

The Commission made recommendations for further action by political parties and Parliament, the civil service, the judiciary and the legal profession, businesses, universities, trade unions and the media. Among other recommendations, the Commission said that a Speaker’s Conference should be established in the House of Commons “to consider the ways in which parliamentary and party practices and procedures place women at a real disadvantage”.

Table of contents

Foreword The Rt Hon Lord Barnett, Chairman, Hansard Society

Summary of Conclusions and Recommendations

Part One - Introduction

Part Two - Barriers to Equality

Part Three - The Public Realm

Part Four - Corporate Management

Part Five - Other Key Areas of Influence

Part Six - Strategies for Change

Appendices

The Constitutional and Legal Framework

A Survey of Employers

Women on the Board

Examples of Organisations in the Private Sector who have taken Equal Opportunities Initiatives

Latest

blog / 04.09.19

Parliament and the Declaration of War in September 1939

3 September marked the 80th anniversary of the UK’s declaration of war on Nazi Germany. As the House of Commons again engages in tumultuous and historic proceedings, Professor Stuart Ball recounts the debates in the Chamber in the two preceding days that helped to precipitate the declaration.

‘Erskine May’, the authoritative guide to Parliament’s procedures and practice, went online on 2 July. The move has significant implications for democratic transparency and for Parliament’s interaction with the public. Here, one of the editors of the new edition, Clerk of the Journals Mark Hutton, explains why and how the innovation came about.

Power of the Purse: what is the Estimates process and how does it work?

Some backbench MPs are seeking to use House of Commons approval of the government’s Main Estimates for 2019-20 as a vehicle against a ‘no-deal’ Brexit, meaning the process is attracting greater interest than usual. We set out how the Estimates process works, how it has changed over the years, and how it could be improved in the future.

The increased stature of select committees and their chairs: reflections by Harriet Harman MP

On the 40th anniversary of the creation of departmental select committees, Harriet Harman, the longest continuously-serving woman MP, offers some personal reflections on the growing importance of select committees and their chairs, particularly at a time of considerable political instability.